US Prosecutors Name Bankman Fried a Thief in Cryptocurrency Trial

Sam Bankman-Fried, a former cryptocurrency child, deliberately stole cash from consumers of his FTX platform, US prosecutors advised a federal courtroom in final arguments on Wednesday.

“This isn’t about complicated problems associated with cryptocurrencies,” prosecutor Nicholas Ross advised the jury after a number of days of cautious wondering of the fallen cryptocurrency king.

“It is about deception. It is about lies. It is about robbery. It is about greed,” he mentioned of the 31-year-old, whose fortune was once estimated at a number of billion bucks on the peak of his popularity.

Bankman-Fried is on trial in New York for allegedly misappropriating budget invested by means of unidentified purchasers on his FTX cryptocurrency change, which was once as soon as the second-largest change for cryptocurrency traders.

He faces many years in jail if convicted.

Up to $14 billion in shopper cash fueled funding transactions and investments for Alameda Analysis, the hedge fund in my view owned by means of Bankman Fried.

The jury faces the query of whether or not “the defendant knew that taking the cash was once improper,” Ross mentioned.

“He knew it was once improper. He did it anyway and concept that as a result of he was once good, he may just break out with it,” the prosecutor mentioned.

To imagine in a different way, “You need to imagine that the defendant was once in reality ignorant. You sat via this trial realizing that none of it was once true.”

Already susceptible throughout the primary 3 weeks of the trial, the 31-year-old did not flip issues round throughout his a number of days of testimony.

“He lied to you,” the prosecutor mentioned of Bankman-Fried’s repeated makes an attempt to mention he was once ignorant of Alameda’s critical situation or recall false statements that every one was once neatly at his corporate.

However throughout two hours of final arguments, prosecutors mentioned Bankman-Fried gained more than one warnings in regards to the Alameda corporate’s monetary situation, lengthy sooner than its cave in overdue final 12 months.

“Each and every time, he selected to redouble his efforts and dig the outlet deeper,” Ross advised the jury.

“That is robbery”

Right through the trial that started on October 3, the MIT graduate admitted that he made “errors” in operating his cryptocurrency empire, however that he had by no means dedicated any fraud.

He portrayed himself as a tender businessman crushed with industry and didn’t understand the issue in Alameda till it was once too overdue.

He mentioned the issues at Alameda arose as a result of workers disregarded his path, together with his former female friend Carolyn Ellison, whom he handpicked to run Alameda.

Ellison and different friends alleged that Bankman-Fried recommended Alameda to rob FTX’s vaults, virtually with out restrict, Ross famous.

“That is fraud. That is robbery, natural and easy,” Ross mentioned.

The trial published that Alameda was once licensed to borrow as much as $65 billion from FTX via a instrument “backdoor,” the use of the cash for dangerous investments, political donations and comfort actual property purchases.

However the clean take a look at grew to become bitter when the cryptocurrency trade succumbed to a sequence of defaults in 2022, inflicting the worth of just about all cryptocurrencies and Alameda belongings to say no.

In line with prosecutors, on the time of FTX’s chapter, simply over $8 billion owned by means of purchasers in unhealthy investments in Alameda disappeared.

© 2023 Agence France-Presse